A bill has been published which seeks to prevent domestic homicides and suicides.

Angela Constance, the justice secretary, will be in Holyrood Park on Wednesday to mark the publication of the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill.

Here's what you need to know about the proposed act.

What is the bill for?

The bill seeks to modernise procedures in Scotland's criminal courts, as well as creating a statutory domestic homicide and suicide review model.

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What changes to the courts would it bring?

Most of what it would do would be to make permanent existing measures which have been operating on a temporary basis until now.

Firstly, the signing and sending of electronic documents in court cases would be made permanent.

In addition, attending hearings virtually - i.e via video link - would be allowed on a permanent basis in law.

Under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, people are required to physically attend court but this was suspended during the Covid pandemic. The bill remove this requirement.

The bill would also change the scale of fiscal fines, including the permitted maximum, which in effect would raise the amount of money someone can pay in a fixed penalty notice to avoid being taken to court for a minor offence.

Also made permanent would be national jurisdiction for callings from custody, which allow some criminal cases to be taken in any sheriff court in Scotland.

Are there any new measures?

Yes, one change proposed is to allow images to be used in place of physical evidence in criminal cases.

So, a picture of physical evidence would be treated in the same way as the physical evidence itself.

It would also permit copies to be treated as equivalent to the item copied in criminal proceedings, without additional authentication.

What does the second part do?

The bill would also create a process for reviewing deaths which relate to abusive behaviour within relationships.

Almost like a Fatal Accident Inquiry, the review would look at what lessons can be learnt in relation to a death to try to stop similar things happening again.

There would also be an oversight committee and case review panels to undertake and manage these reviews.

What happens next?

Having been introduced on September 24, the bill will now go to the committee stage.

The committee will hear from experts, organisations, and members of the public about what the bill would do, then write a report about what it has heard and giving its own view of the bill and whether it should be supported by the Scottish Parliament.

If the bill is accepted it will then go to stage two, where MSPs can suggest amendments to be debated and voted on by the committee.

The bill is then put to a Holyrood debate where any MSP can vote on it, and further amendments can be debated and voted on.

If it passes it will become law after receiving Royal Assent.